The facts, as reported by the district attorney, fully sustain him in
the view that the conviction ought not to have been for a higher grade
of homicide than manslaughter in the first degree. The killing, the
result of a sudden quarrel, was committed in the heat of passion and
without any real purpose to effect death. Until the commission of the
crime, Gerhardt had always borne a good character, and his conduct
during his long imprisonment has been exemplary. He has now served
a longer term than the maximum penalty for manslaughter and
commutation of his sentence is recommended by the district attorney
who procured the conviction, by his associate counsel, by the county
judge, who was a member of the trial court, by the present county
judge and by other leading citizens of Sullivan county.

The prisoner was convicted of breaking and entering a liquor store.
Ordinarily, this would constitute burglary in the third degree, the
maximum penalty for which is five years; but it appearing that the
proprietor and his family lived on

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